Shot Sizes Explained: 8 Camera Shot Sizes in Filmmaking

In cinematography, the shot size refers to the size of the frame relative to the figures or objects in the frame. Shot sizes can be close, medium, or long, ranging from from extreme close-up to extreme long shot. The focal length of the lens and the camera-subject distance determine what will be visible in the camera’s field of view.

Once you determine your shot size, further refining your camering position can add perspective. When creating your shot list, select a camera angle and, if necessary, camera movement to achieve your desired effect. High angle shots, low angle shots, Dutch angle shots, tracking shots and pans, single shots and two shots, point of view shots (POV), and over-the-shoulder shots (OTS), can determine the way the subject appears in the frame.

There is a wide range of camera shot sizes with varying fields of view. On the size scale from long shot to close-up, the different types of camera shots include:

1. 1. Extreme long shot: An extreme long shot, also known as an extreme wide shot (EWS), is a shot where the camera is positioned far from the subject. The characters will appear inferior to their surroundings. Extreme wide shots can give a sense of grandeur, establish the scale of the environment, or emphasize how small and isolated the characters feel or actually are. The 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, directed by David Lean, uses an extreme wide shot to frame the characters in the vast desert.
2. 2. Long shot: A long shot, also known as a wide shot, is filmed from a distant vantage point (with a deep depth of field) in a way that emphasizes place and location, setting the subject of the scene in context. Establishing shots of a building or specific location are often long or wide shots. In The Searchers (1962), director John Ford captures the main character Ethan (John Wayne) silhouetted in a doorway with the desert behind him.
3. 3. Medium long shot: While some professionals might use this interchangeably with the medium shot, a medium long shot or medium wide shot will tend to emphasize the background and environment more than a medium shot. The characters’ full bodies are often visible.
4. 4. Medium shot: Somewhere between a close-up and a wide shot, the medium shot is filmed from a vantage point that shows a subject from the knees or waist up, while also revealing some of the surrounding environment. A variation known as the cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, reveals enough to show a character grabbing a gun from their holster.
5. 5. Medium close-up shot: Somewhere between a close-up and a medium shot, the medium close-up shot (MCU) is filmed from a vantage point that shows a subject from the waist up, but does not reveal a lot of the surrounding environment. MCUs are good at revealing a subject’s body language. In the film Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), director Agnès Vard uses this framing frequently.
6. 6. Close-up: Close-up shots (CU) are filmed in a way that frames the subject tightly, filling the screen with a particular aspect or detail such as the subject’s face or a hand. The close-up is a very common shot, allowing subtle gestures or expressions to be rendered very clear to the audience. In Steven Spielberg’s 1975 Jaws, close-up reveals Chief Brody’s (Roy Schieder) tense face moments before he will see what the audience already knows: the shark is right behind him.
7. 7. Extreme close-up: An extreme close-up shot (ECU) is a more intense version of a close-up, usually showing only the eyes or another part of the character’s face. These can make the audience feel a sense of discomfort, or reveal a small, specific piece of information. An example of this is in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), when the frame tightly focuses on the Bride’s (Uma Thurman) angry eyes.
8. 8. Full shot: A subject fills the entire frame in a full shot. It communicates their appearance, their surroundings, and how they fit into their surroundings to the audience.

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